Ambrose Thomas - Hamlet - "A vos jeux, mes amis" (Joan Sutherland) (c. 1960)

[Detectivefiction]

One of my favorite of Sutherland's early recordings, and, I hear, one of the most critically acclaimed. And you put up J.W. Waterhouse's OPHELIA of 1910 for the visual element! How wonderful!

[Eiswirth1]

I've always felt the last few notes of this great aria are the most perfectly sung, beautiful sound I've ever heard. I know most of her catalog, but there's something about this aria that leads me to that conclusion. Does anyone else feel that as well?

[CaptFitzbattleaxe]

@Eiswirth1 Agreed. It's an otherworldly passage of singing.

[andyuk]

Words just aren't enough. Truly stupendous. Brilliant!

[Alain2884]

OMG simply amazing! Brava

[cpanati]

Glorious. I thank God I attended all her MET performances in the '70s and 80s. If she was in NYC, I was there. What memories.

[edgarbiervliet]

Only Callas sings this chromatic scale with the same level of perfection....just not the same level of tonal beauty and power. No other soprano in recording history has managed to come close to this kind of perfection in the last upwards chromatic scale. Its really unbelievable.

[killerbunny123123]

my absolutely favourite soprano is natalie dessay and i always thought that her performance of ophelie was the best, as she makes you cry with her acting but having heard joan......my god! Mrs. sutherland is AMAZING in this role! it took my 1 whole year to realize how truly great she is! Callas took me 2 years to adore...I guess the harder and longer it takes to truly love someone , the harder you will forget that person....amazing......5.00000­/5 stars

[vocalissimo1]

Joan herself tells a story about the recording session for this aria. Just as she was finishing the final few extraordinary bars with a wonderful sense of satisfaction, a plane flew overhead and the sound engineers declared that there would have to be a retake. Joan felt that her second effort - the very one we are hearing here - wasn't as good as the first!!! Well, if this second attempt is so stupendous, what must the original have sounded like? That chromatic scale to high E is amazing.

[meltzerboy]

I never heard this interesting story about the recording. Sutherland does not mention it in her autobiography. You're so right: the current performance sounds like it can hardly be bettered, even by Sutherland herself!

[Eiswirth]

This was from her "Art of the Prima Donna" album, I believe. I've listened to this recording hundreds of times and I always come to the same conclusion: no one has ever sung these arias better. The last note of this aria is the most perfectly sung note I've ever heard. Simply magnificent!

[SopranoKayla1992]

*listens* So beautiful. *sigh of peace*

[raymzi]

what's that note at the end?

[edgarbiervliet]

She makes a variation. The chromatic cale ends on the fourth note in the modality (The end is in B Major, so the chromatic scale ends on the E).

Then she ends the piece not as written from the dominant (Fsharp) to the Ut (Do = B), She goes from the Fsharp to the Dsharp (the thirth tone in the major scale of B = Mi) So she sings the triller on the Fsharp, steps to the Dsharp, down to the Csharp (the word ´Je´), ending on the B (Meur).

[moghedien13]

@edgarbiervliet im a high note lover, but for some reason i prefer the original or joan's alteration to the end rather than the high F sharp (when a singer can do it of course).

[edgarbiervliet]

@moghedien13 The F sharp I was referring to is written in the score...it is not the (octave) higher F sharp some other singers sing (the latter one not being written in the score).

[Jabe88]

this is indeed the ideal Ophelia!

[aragall77]

Absolutely right! Can anyone sing like that??

[nikolaimedtner]

no one can sing this like her. so effortless, simply amazing...

[meltzerboy]

And Sutherland even sang the role to critical acclaim late in her career.